The Latest: Trump says top tech firms have signed accord to 'self-police' AI development

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said during a meeting at the White House that he and a large group of leaders of artificial intelligence companies had signed a voluntary accord that will include internal and external reviews of the technology.

Trump suggested there would be about 10 people named to a committee to “watch over the whole enterprise” and said the accord would be “morally binding.”

Trump also unveiled Tuesday the AI-powered America.gov site as a way to simplify public access to government information and services. The site’s question-and-answer function initially produced truthful responses to politically thorny questions — contrary to several of Trump’s characteristic claims.

Within moments, however, the site began modifying its answers. After originally confirming that Trump’s name is in the Epstein files, that Democrat Joe Biden beat him in the 2020 election and that climate change is largely human-caused, it subsequently refused to answer the questions, saying it didn’t answer political inquiries.

Meanwhile, former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two federal indictments against Trump, told lawmakers Tuesday that he “will not be silenced by continued threats of prosecution” from the Trump administration and that he believes the rule of law is being threatened like never before. Smith’s hearing before the Senate is expected to focus on his team’s access to GOP lawmakers’ phone records when prosecutors were investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Here's the latest:

White House releases self-policing AI pledge that Trump says is ‘morally binding’

The president signed an executive order after holding a White House lunch meeting with top industry leaders. It mostly focuses on Trump’s insistence that artificial intelligence be called “super intelligence.”

But Trump said the document would work with industry leaders to keep AI safe for users while also not limiting innovation in the field.

The president said that officials were already “seeing tremendous self-policing” around ensuring AI doesn’t become too powerful for its own good. And he said his administration may create a 10-person committee charged with overseeing the AI industry.

Key Democratic senator criticizes Hegseth’s planned cuts of generals

Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said eliminating senior leadership positions must be done in consultation with Congress.

Pentagon officials say Hegseth plans to announce in an address Wednesday that the military needs to carry out a 20% total decrease to the roughly 800 flag and general officer positions by Jan. 1, 2027.

Reed warned that the planned cuts “should alarm every American.”

“Congress has been clear with the Secretary that he must consult this body and explain his reasoning for senior officer removals and promotion holds. To date, we have not received satisfactory answers,” Reed said in a statement.

“Our military is conducting major operations around the world, and the force is already under strain,” he added. “Eliminating senior positions and leaders now will add to that strain and disrupt command when continuity matters most.”

Hegseth set to announce more job cuts for generals

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is planning to announce further cuts to the number of generals and admirals in an address set for Wednesday.

According to Pentagon officials, Hegseth will direct all the military services to double the 10% reduction that he ordered last spring to the roughly 800 flag and general officer positions, making it a 20% total decrease to be completed by Jan. 1, 2027.

Trump or Hegseth already have fired or pushed to retire more than two dozen military leaders since taking office, including the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George.

Hegseth will make the announcement in a speech to troops at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, the second year in a row he will deliver what the Pentagon is calling his “State of the Force” address.

Fox News earlier reported the new reductions.

Senate Republican blocks Democratic resolution disapproving of taxpayer-funded ads promoting Trump

New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan went to the Senate floor on Tuesday and tried to pass a resolution by unanimous consent that said it is the “sense of the Senate” that the campaign-style ads promoting President Donald Trump should not be funded by taxpayers.

Political messages “should not come at the cost of hard-earned American tax dollars,” Hassan said.

Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis objected, comparing the ads to government public service announcements of the past, like anti-drug campaigns and pro-vaccination messages during the coronavirus pandemic. “I don’t recall a single Democrat rushing to the floor to object to any of them,” Lummis said.

Hassan responded that “people know the difference between a PSA and a political ad.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said this week that he believes the ads should not be funded by taxpayers.

Trump says he’ll do a 32-day campaign tour ahead of the midterms

Despite the president’s approval ratings sinking to near historic lows ahead of Election Day in November, Trump maintained of Republican candidates around the country, “They all want me to go” and help out in their races.

He said he’d be launching a 32-day blitz to the midterm elections that would begin on Thursday with a trip to Texas.

Trump added that he’d also be going to Ohio and “all different places.”

All of Trump’s planned stops haven’t yet been made public, but he is set to visit Alabama on Friday and Nebraska on Monday.

Some top Republican elected officials and candidates have begun to distance themselves from Trump, calling for an end to the war in Iran or softening of his immigration policies. But the president believes the best way he can help the GOP is personally rallying his “Make America Great Again” base in different areas.

Trump calls Google CEO a ‘monster’ — in a good way

Trump introduced Google CEO Sundar Pichai to reporters in an unusual way.

“This guy is a monster, and nobody knows,” Trump said approvingly. Pichai described the voluntary AI agreement this way, using Trump’s new branding for artificial intelligence:

“We are signing up to a set of processes and controls like we do in other areas, like financial controls, in a company. And we are bringing those well-known best practices to the development of superintelligence,” Pichai told reporters.

The text of the new accord is not yet available. Here’s how Zuckerberg described it

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told reporters at the White House that the new accord included “a set of principles and commitments around building robust internal controls and detecting if there are any issues with the technology.”

Zuckerberg, who had distanced his company from calls for a slowdown in AI, said the new agreement would be “coupled with multiple layers of auditing and controls, starting with internal risk review, external auditors and evaluators and agreeing that we’re going to have all of our boards of directors independently review the reports that come from the auditors.”

Trump says data centers are ‘absolutely beautiful’

The president has spent months defending tech companies building data centers around the country, even amid a growing backlash from voters on the right and the left.

He made the case again during his impromptu White House driveway question-and-answer session. But this time, Trump drew on his decades as a New York real estate developer and suggested that centers make very aesthetically pleasing buildings.

“By the way, I’m very good at real estate. Some of those buildings are absolutely beautiful,” Trump said. “They’re big and they’re, you know, big, strong, powerful buildings. But they’re beautiful and they add greatly to a community.”

Anthropic’s Amodei says AI safety mechanism still under discussion

One of the loudest voices on the risks of AI -- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei -- said after the meeting that he thinks the industry can protect safety.

“But I think the technology has very real risks. And, you know, the mechanism, how we address those risks is still under discussion,” Amodei said during the White House driveway news conference.

Amodei had dinner with Trump on Sunday night and was part of Tuesday’s industry meeting.

Trump and AI leaders have signed a voluntary accord for reviews of artificial intelligence after White House meeting

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he and a large group of leaders of artificial intelligence companies had signed a voluntary accord that will include internal and external reviews of the technology during a meeting at the White House.

“I think I’m seeing tremendous self-policing. And they understand that they have to self-police,” Trump told reporters outside the West Wing.

Details of the accord were not immediately available.

Supreme Court lets quick deportations to third countries resume for now while it weighs Trump policy

The high court said Tuesday it will hear arguments on whether migrants must have a chance to object.

The order lifts for now an appeals court ruling. Federal attorneys said the lower court’s decision forced the cancellation of a deportation flight carrying about 70 people.

Under a series of often-secret agreements, Trump’s Republican administration has deported some 25,000 people to more than two dozen countries. The case comes amid a sweeping immigration crackdown by the Trump administration.

Trump praises AI self-regulation and data centers at White House tech luncheon

The president called his White House lunch meeting with top tech executives to discuss artificial intelligence “very productive” and said that those gathered were united in that “we love our country and we love the world, and we want to make sure it’s a safe place.”

Trump said the tech leaders were “the greatest, most brilliant people in the world,” but offered few details on what AI guardrails might have been discussed.

Instead he praised “self-regulation,” and added “we automatically have regulation with the Department of Justice, the FBI, all of that.”

The president repeated his defense of data centers being built around the country – despite them becoming increasingly unpopular.

Trump said the assembled tech leaders would work to make communities getting data centers happy by supplying oil and gas, making local education donations and providing tax revenue.

“Data centers are going to be very popular,” he said, because tech leaders “want to see communities that are safe and happy.”

Trump added: “Otherwise, they’ll be forced to go overseas or other locations.”

Alaska’s GOP senator says parties are divided over energy development in the state

Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska said the war in Iran is temporary, but that a “forever war” is one Democrats wage against oil and gas projects in the state.

Sullivan is locked in a tight reelection campaign against Democrat Mary Peltola. He told The Associated Press that fuel costs are a “huge issue” and that people are hurting.

He said he’s focused on that through efforts that include supporting funding for a low-income heating assistance program and a temporary moratorium on U.S. exports of diesel until the war with Iran is over.

Many small rural communities accessible only by air or water rely on diesel for heat and electricity, with some shipments coming on barges before rivers freeze.

Sullivan spoke after a campaign rally in Juneau. He and Peltola have cast themselves as champions of oil and gas development in Alaska, even as Sullivan has tried to tie Peltola to national Democrats, who have often fought to restrict drilling.

Navy jet crashed into Atlantic Ocean after equipment failure

A fighter jet that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while landing on the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a failure to the arresting gear that was designed to bring the jet to a halt after landing.

“Two Naval aviators assigned to Carrier Air Wing 3 subsequently ejected from their aircraft following an arresting gear failure and were promptly recovered by search-and-rescue personnel,” the Navy said in a statement released Tuesday.

According to the Navy, the jet was a E/A-18G Growler that was assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 130, also known as the “Zappers.”

Eight sailors, including the two aviators, were evaluated by medical personnel and five were flown off the ship for follow-on treatment.

Jack Smith hearing wraps up

The four-hour hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee was marked by partisan squabbling over what Republicans have characterized as political prosecutions against Trump as he sought a return to the White House.

Smith repeatedly defended the work of his investigative team, telling lawmakers: “Anybody who has worked with me or knows me during the course of my career knows that I would not let politics play a role.”

The hearing came as Republicans have pushed for Smith to himself be prosecuted. Smith said he “will not be silenced by continued threats of prosecution from the president or others.”

GAO tells lawmakers that Trump can’t withhold more than $800 million

President Donald Trump is not permitted to withhold beyond Wednesday, the end of the fiscal year, more than $800 million in spending approved by Congress.

That’s according to a review from the Government Accountability Office that was sent to federal lawmakers and Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday and obtained by The Associated Press.

The president proposed rescinding spending from 11 appropriations accounts, using a rare and contested power to axe funding for immigrant services and diversity-focused initiatives.

But the GAO said federal law provides that funds proposed for rescission must be made available unless Congress completes action on a bill rescinding them.

“Any withholding of appropriated funds beyond their date of expiration, regardless of size, subverts both the constitutional process for enacting federal law and Congress’s constitutional power of the purse,” wrote the GAO’s general counsel.

US targets Iran’s military supply chain with new sanctions

The United States is targeting people and companies around the globe that it accuses of being financial facilitators or enablers of Iran’s military supply chain.

The Trump administration is pushing forward with economic warfare against Tehran at a time when renewed diplomacy between the two countries remains uncertain.

The latest action by the Treasury Department on Tuesday is part of the administration’s “Operation Economic Outcast” campaign, which is aimed at severing “critical financial lifelines” for the already heavily sanctioned Iranian government.

“Treasury will not tolerate any support to the regime and will continue to identify, expose, and isolate Iran’s enablers,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Ten individuals and entities based in Iran, Hong Kong and Pakistan now face sanctions over accusations of procuring weapons and weapon components for Iran’s defense ministry as it fights its now seven-month war against the U.S.

EPA union sues Zeldin over termination of labor contract

A union representing thousands of employees at the Environmental Protection Agency is suing EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin over his termination of a collective bargaining agreement with workers.

The American Federation of Government Employees Council 238 says Zeldin’s action last year unlawfully stripped about 8,000 federal workers of protections that help them do their jobs, follow sound science and speak up without fear of retaliation.

Zeldin abruptly terminated the labor contract in August 2025, two months after 139 employees signed a “declaration of dissent” with his policies, saying they “undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment.”

EPA ultimately fired 20 employees who signed the dissent letter, and suspended 119 without pay, the union says. Of those disciplined, 110 were covered by the collective bargaining agreement.

The union called Zeldin’s action an attempt to silence workers and remove protections for employees who spoke out about political interference with the agency’s scientific work.

Tech industry leaders joining Trump, Vance, top Cabinet members for White House lunch focused on AI

The president is hosting a White House lunch on artificial intelligence in the face of growing calls for the government to establish guardrails that can help contain the technology.

Attendees include Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Nikesh Arora of Palo Alto Networks, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, Greg Brockman of OpenAI, Brad Gerstner of Altimeter and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang.

Also on hand will be Tesla and Space X’s Elon Musk and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Those industry leaders will join Trump and Vance, as well as House Speaker Mike Johnson, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

Trump to campaign in solidly red Nebraska with midterms looming

The president has repeatedly promised to travel to competitive areas around the country, even as his approval ratings sink and Republicans increasingly scramble to try and hold control of Congress after Election Day in November.

But Trump is instead holding a rally on Monday in Grand Island, in solidly red, south-central Nebraska.

The state has a competitive congressional race in Omaha, but where Trump is going is a different, GOP-held district and media market, with an election that isn’t expected to be close.

Trump’s trip could be an effort to counter Dan Osborn, an independent candidate running for Nebraska’s Senate seat against incumbent Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts.

But the president hitting Grand Island comes as the midterm map is full of Senate races in other states where Democrats have far better shots of flipping GOP seats.

GOP’s Schmitt appears to mix-up teams during Smith accusation

Republicans spent much of the Senate hearing trying to trip up Smith and impeach his credibility.

In one notable moment, Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt accused Smith of traveling to Atlanta and attending a game for the city’s NBA team — the Hawks — in February 2024 while Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was facing scrutiny for her romantic relationship with a special prosecutor in the Georgia 2020 election case.

But it appeared Schmitt got his teams confused. Smith said he had actually been at a game that day for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes in Maryland.

America.gov changes politically thorny answers moments after launch

As it initially launched, the site’s question-and-answer function answered some political questions truthfully — noting correctly that Biden won the 2020 election and that Obama’s 2009 inaugural crowd was bigger than Trump’s in 2017.

Within moments, however, the site began modifying its answers.

After originally reporting that Biden won in 2020, it refused to answer the question subsequently, saying it didn’t answer political inquiries.

Same went for a question on crowd size at Obama’s inauguration versus Trump’s first one.

The site also offered more muddled answers on other things Trump frequently says that aren’t true — like the Strait of Hormuz being fully reopened to commercial traffic.